Windows 11 Indexing is paused

Having this problem too, it says paused but it still seems to be indexing so I'm letting it run. Crazy how this problem persists almost 2 years later, Microsoft should have stayed with Windows 10, 11 is worse in nearly every capacity

I restarted the Windows Search service.

When I went back to Indexing Options, yes, indeed the message no longer read "Indexing Paused."

Instead, it BRIEFLY stated that the indexing was slow due to user activity.

Then it restarted automatically the indexing, and the "Indexing Paused" message returned.

The indexing process is extremely slow - still.

It took me 3 1/2 days to index (without file content) my internal hard drive and my external drive, about 370,000 files.

Now, at least, I can search and find the files I need on my external drive. What a relief. But, I was told by Microsoft Tech Support that indexing should take only 2 to 3 hours! So totally NOT TRUE.

Now I've gone back to reindex my hard drive (having unplugged my external drive) so that I can index both filenames and file contents. Again, it's very slow.

I've changed my power settings to NEVER SLEEP and have had my computer plugged in 24 hours a day.

After the 3 1/2 days to index filenames on both drives, I wonder how long it will take to index names and contents on my internal (c:) hard drive only?

Just wondering whether I'll have to run through this exercise every month or two. I scan a lot of old family photos, so there are many tens of thousands of .jpg files in many directories on my external hard drive. To do what I need, I simply must be able to find those files by name. I can't keep them all on my internal hard drive.

Any recommendations for hints to speed things up? I'm really disappointed with Windows 11.

I see other complaints going back to October 2021 if I search for "indexing windows 11" in the "Microsoft Feedback Hub". But this "answers.microsoft.com" forum is the only place where I found a solution (albeit transitory) posted by JC305 above to stop and restart the WSearch service whenever this happens.

Rebuilding the index pre-sorts it so it finds search targets faster.

Restarting the Search Service is something entirely different, done in Services control panel or Task Manager > Services tab, and is a way to fix pausing that is stuck.

Follow the steps given until one of them works.

Report back results so I know what else to suggest.

Hello Greg,

Thank you for the response.

Before I restart...what is the difference between rebuild and restart? 

The indexing, after a rebuild starts, pauses. Wont restart do the same?

Also...it has been indexing and pausing and indexing and pausing since yesterday. Will a restart start at zero again (like rebuilding)?